New songs of innocence :: :: University of Virginia Library

The sun in regal splendour
Invests the western sky;
In light serene and tender
Both hills and valleys lie.
There's peace on earth at even
When daily toil is done,
And o'er the Vale of Leven
Streams forth the setting sun.

But yet, my children, hearken!
As shadows deeper grow
And night begins to darken
I hear a sound of woe.
Whate'er of peace she borrow,
Whate'er of waking mirth,
A dread of coming sorrow
Disturbs the dreaming earth.

In every summer loaning,
In every leafy tree,
I hear a sound of moaning,
Like the murmur of a sea;
The wheatfields are repeating
With spears uplifted high
The gladiator greeting
Of those about to die!

The wind, that ne'er rejoices,
Its sympathy has given,
And all these wailing voices
Salute the silent heaven.
‘Alas!’ they cry in chorus,
‘Is there no other way?
Is there no goal before us
But darkness and decay?

‘This flame of life that flashes
In shining blade and leaf—
Has it no end but ashes?
No joy to come, but grief?
Is every guileless creature
That cheers us with its play
A sacrifice to nature—
To cruel laws a prey?’

I hear their wail, my children,
Deep echoed in my heart—
Its dream of love bewildering
Where everything has part.
The wail of Pagan beauty
That passes with its breath—
Only the life of duty
Endures the touch of death